Few technology enhancements to travel have been as fraught with angst as allowing cellphone use in flight. Only 16% of leisure travelers said they would like to use their cellphones in flight, said Henry Harteveldt, vice president and principal analyst for Cambridge, Mass.-based travel research firm Forrester Research, which conducted a study. "The truth is we do view flying as the last respite of being off the grid," Harteveldt said.

Major U.S. airlines began rolling back fuel surcharges Tuesday, just days after doubling the fee to $40 on round-trip tickets, as domestic passengers balked at the fare increases amid signs of a slowing economy. It was the latest setback for the airline industry, which has been trying to pass the cost of higher fuel costs to passengers by tacking on surcharges to the price of the ticket.

MARKING a formal end to hot meals in coach on domestic flights, American Airlines in September plans to start removing rear galleys from its MD-80 jets, which fly most of its domestic routes. Front galleys, where food is prepared for first-class passengers, will remain. "We've pretty much concluded that hot food in the coach section is not something we'll be able to afford," said Art Pappas, American's managing director in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday outlined his vision for the region's air traffic system, calling for airlines to concentrate international flights at LAX while shifting some new domestic travel, particularly short-haul flights, to other airports. Los Angeles faces many obstacles in clearing its air traffic jams, however. Efforts at regionalizing air transportation already have failed three times in recent years.

In a land where criminals and insurgents control many roads, Iraq's national airline hopes the skies will provide a means to unite the fractious country. Iraqi Airways last month inaugurated service from Baghdad to two cities: Basra in the south and Irbil in the north. It vows that more cities will follow.

Major U.S. airlines kicked off the summer with a round of fare increases, citing the latest surge in fuel costs for the need to charge as much as 3% more per trip. If it sticks, the move means customers of the largest carriers could pay an additional $20 or more for domestic and international flights as the busiest travel season of the year gears up. The increases began Tuesday night, when AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and UAL Corp.'

In the latest cost-cutting move by a struggling air carrier, Northwest Airlines Corp. is nixing pretzels on its domestic flights, months after it stopped serving free meals. Beginning June 9, coach passengers who want anything other than soda will have to pay for it. They can get a 3-ounce bag of trail mix for $1. Northwest Airlines spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said Friday that the airline had no immediate plans to stop offering free soda.

For most American Airlines coach passengers, there will no longer be a free lunch -- or breakfast or dinner. The nation's largest air carrier said Friday that it would eliminate complimentary food service for coach customers on domestic flights beginning Feb. 1. The cost-cutting move is expected to save the struggling airline $30 million annually. The airline, a unit of Dallas-based AMR Corp.

The one-two punch of the Iraq war and a mysterious respiratory illness has halted a fledgling recovery in passenger traffic at Los Angeles International Airport and sharply curbed sales at some airport shops and restaurants. The number of people passing through the world's fifth-busiest airport was already at a six-year low at the end of 2002 after the terrorist attacks frightened leisure travelers and a sluggish economy forced many businesses to curtail their travel budgets.

Many U.S. airports that saw drastic cutbacks in domestic passenger service after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have not recovered, with some still showing double-digit declines, according to a national report released Wednesday. Among major airports facing the sharpest drop-off in scheduled flights is Los Angeles International Airport, which now has 20% fewer flights compared with last fall, the study said.